The present invention relates generally to protective sports gloves, and more specifically, but without limitation, to a lacrosse glove having a cuff constructed and positioned to provide increased protection for a user of the glove.
Various protective sporting gloves have been developed over the years for use in lacrosse, hockey, and other similar contact sports. These gloves are designed protect the user of the glove, or player of the sport, against impacts and blows to their hands during participation in the sporting event. Unfortunately, as the protection provided by these gloves increases, the user of these prior art gloves experiences a reduction in the amount of flexibility he has in his hand due to the configuration of the glove. This reduction in flexibility can substantially reduce the effectiveness and level of play of a participant wearing the glove. Traditionally, however, as the level of flexibility allowed by a protective glove remains high, the protection provided by that glove has been limited. It is known in the art to provide a wrist guard on a sports glove to provide protection for participants' wrists between the cuff and hand portions of the glove. However, most of these prior art wrist guards limit the flexibility and therefore often removed by a user of the glove.
There are several areas of the hand that need to maintain an increased level of flexibility and yet still need a high level of protection. These areas include the various joints of the fingers and hand including the wrist. The wrist area can be especially problematic due to the high degree of flexibility within the wrist. For example, the hand can extend in the direction from the back of the forearm to the palm side of the forearm in a range of approximately 180°. This degree of rotation combined with the size of the wrist and forearm areas that need to be protected through this full range of motion presents increased problems.
For example, as the hand flexes towards the palm side of the forearm, any cuff located on the back of the glove will be drawn towards the hand and away from the forearm and wrist areas. Conversely, when the hand is flexed towards the back of the forearm, any cuff located underneath the glove will be pulled toward the hand and away from the palm side of the forearm. As such, a flexing of the hand at the wrist reduces the protective covering for the wrist and forearm.
Compounding this issue is the very padding located at the wrist and forearm areas. In order to sustain as complete of a range of motion as possible for the hand at the wrist, the padding or protection on the forearm and wrist should not substantially restrict the flexibility of the forearm, wrist and hand. Otherwise, the amount of the rotational range of the hand when flexed at the wrist will be limited due to the increased padding and protective materials in the glove.
In some instance, the configuration of the cuff itself limits the range of movement for the hand and the flexibility in the glove. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. D462,146, 4,677,698, 4,497,073, 6,550,069, and 6,543,057 all disclose types of protective sports gloves in which the configuration of the glove limits range of movement of the hand at the wrist. In these prior art patents, the interaction between the cuff guard, wrist guard, hand guard, limits the range of movement of the hand at the wrist. This combined with the shape of the cuff on these gloves and the attachment of the individual elements of the cuff to one another substantially reduces the flexibility and range of motion of a wearer of the glove. As such, the users' ability to properly participate in the sport is limited.
What is needed then is a protective sports glove that provides adequate protection for the fingers, hand, wrist, and forearm of a user of the glove and still maintains a large range of motion for the various joints of the hand and wrist of a user of a glove.
This needed glove should protect a wearer of the glove from impacts from impacts from the equipment used within the game, such as hockey sticks, lacrosse sticks, pucks, balls, skates, and the like, as well was impacts between participants. This needed glove should provided substantial protection to the participants fingers, hands, wrists, and forearms while maintaining as much flexibility within the glove as possible. The flexibility is desired to allow the user to properly participate in the sport while the protection is required to reduce injury while participating in the sport.